Training for Attentional Control in Novice Car Drivers: A Simulator Study

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Abstract
Novice drivers aged 18 to 25 are overrepresented in road accidents. This is partly due to an underdeveloped ability to control their attention. A driving simulator was used to enhance the attentional control skill of novice drivers, using Gopher's “variable priority” (VP) training technique. Three groups of novice drivers with varying on-road experience participated. Half the subjects in each group received VP training; the other half served as controls. All performed two tasks concurrently in the simulator, over 20 training trials. The VP group was instructed over trials to systematically vary the relative amount of attention given to each task. Control subjects were instructed to simply perform the two tasks as well as possible. After training, VP subjects performed significantly better than controls in a transfer of training drive in the simulator involving three sub-tasks, and this was particularly the case for those with greater driving experience. A follow-up experiment replicated and extended these findings.

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